One reason that George Osborne, the UK Chancellor, was relaxed about carving another chunk of tax out of the banks in the Budget is that he is now less concerned about their threats to move their headquarters overseas.

The bank levy has particularly infuriated HSBC and Standard Chartered, neither of which received a government bailout in the financial crisis. In common with other British banks, they pay the levy on the size of their global balance sheets while foreign banks pay it only on their British business. This is particularly tough on HSBC and Standard Chartered, which make the bulk their money outside the UK. Both banks have periodically warned that they might move their domicile, thus reducing their tax bill and escaping from Britain's particularly onerous regulatory regime.